1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical support apparatus, an operation method of a medical support apparatus, and a medical support system.
2. Description Related to the Prior Art
In medical fields, in order to smoothly perform medical treatment on a patient by a medical staff such as a doctor who diagnoses and treats the patient and a laboratory technologist who performs a medical examination on the patient, a patient list for displaying a plurality of items on a patient-by-patient basis is generated in a two-dimensional area, in which items representing a plurality of medical care processes such as medical examinations and medical tests performed on a patient by medical staffs, and patient identification information for identifying a plurality of patients are arranged, such that the generated patient list is viewed by a medical staff.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-338521 discloses a medical support apparatus (referred to as “management server” in this document) for generating a display screen having a patient list, in which the items are arranged along a horizontal axis and the patient identification information (referred to as “patient numbers” in this document) are arranged along a vertical axis. The medical support apparatus outputs the generated display screen to a client terminal apparatus, which is operated by the medical staff. The client terminal apparatus displays the display screen on a display panel, which is viewed by each medical staff.
According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-338521, items of ophthalmology as a medical test including a vision test, mydriasis, fundus imaging, non-contact intraocular pressure measurement, and items of medical care processes other than the medical test including consultation, treatment, and accounting are exemplified. Each of these items is assigned with an icon (referred to as a status mark in this document) representing a progress status of the medical care process.
The icons display multiple types of progress statuses such as “reservation”, “reception”, “examination”, “suspended”, “unconfirmed”, and “confirmed”. The icons are distinguished from one another by different shapes (circle, triangle, rectangle, and the like) filled with color in different levels, changes in shape and color of the icons, and graphics for easy visual comprehension. The progress status “unconfirmed” corresponds to a state in which the medical staff has not confirmed a result of the medical care process such as a test result of the medical test, and the progress status “confirmed” corresponds to a state in which the medical staff has confirmed the result of the medical care process.
According to Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-338521, some of the items described above are displayed on the display screen, but others which cannot be contained within the display screen are not displayed (i.e., hidden). A horizontal scroll bar is provided in the patient list so as to make it possible to display the hidden items and hidden icons disposed at the hidden items (i.e., hidden sections).
As well known, the scroll bar has a slider movable in the scroll bar, and a pair of arrow buttons disposed to both ends of the scroll bar. The hidden sections are allowed to be displayed by a scrolling operation, such as operation of the slider or the arrow button with use of a mouse cursor, or rotation of a wheel button of a mouse.
A display mode, in which the hidden sections are allowed to be displayed by the scrolling operation in the case where a plurality of items constituting the patient list cannot be contained within the display screen and hidden, has been conventional, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-338521.
However, according to such a display mode in which the scroll bar is provided, the hidden sections are not displayed unless the scrolling operation is performed. As a result, in the case where the icon disposed at the item representing the medical care process whose result is required to be confirmed by the medical staff, such as the item of the medical test, is hidden, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-338521, it is not until the scrolling operation is performed that the progress status is displayed with use of the icon in the hidden section and noticed by a medical staff. Therefore, in some cases, the medical staff may not notice the existence of “unconfirmed” medical care process, such that the medical care process remains to be suspended and never ends.